37 Degree Smart Home Magic Desk review: Nice furniture, shoddy extra features

Sitting in a chair at a desk all day isn't exactly great for the human torso, and this realization has prompted the creation of standing desks from a number of different manufacturers. I regularly apply an IKEA SKARSTA desk fitted with a hand creepo that raises and lowers the main portion, and information technology does a great job of allowing a scrap of a stretch when I even so still have a lot of writing to become done. However, I would be lying if I said that the minute of cranking hasn't been a deterrent to standing. Yeah, I'chiliad lazy.

The Magic Desk from 37 Degree Smart Domicile makes information technology as piece of cake as possible to raise and lower the desk, and it also has a agglomeration of actress features tacked on that aim to go along your working day every bit comfortable as possible. I've used the Magic Desk-bound for well-nigh two weeks now, and while it is a fine piece of piece of furniture, in that location are certainly some things to be aware of.

37 Degree Smart Domicile Magic Desk

From $399

Bottom line: The desk base is built well and the desktop is carefully made, but the actress gimmicks, including electronic module and gesture sensor, are cheap and don't really work properly.

Pros

Solid construction
Beautiful tabletop
Automatic up and downwards
Quiet motors

Cons

Attachable panel is poorly made
Calorie-free broke nearly immediately
Up and downwardly sensor is non perfect

See at OGadget{.cta .shop}

Automatic standing desk

What you'll love about the 37 Degree Smart Home Magic Desk

Receiving this desk, I was surprised at the overall weight. The desktop is made from a chunk of wood that'south near an inch thick, with a tapered edge forth the front that does a neat job of not causing discomfort in your forearms when typing. It's available in white, blackness, and plain wood finish (which I have here), and though I've not seen the others in person, I would recommend checking out this 1. It has a nice grain and though information technology'due south not one solid piece — I tin can come across in the right lite where slabs have been joined together — it could certainly fool someone giving it a quick glance.

The rest of the weight is found in the sturdy steel legs. They extend front and back out to just about the edges of the desktop, and there's actually no movement at all when you try to jiggle the desk. Adjustable prophylactic anxiety on the bottom let you to discover a level position on uneven floors, and the black finish hides dirt much better than the white legs on my IKEA desk-bound.

Category	Spec
Dimensions	47 inches 10 27.five inches (i.19 one thousand 10 0.70 m) or 59 inches x 27.5 inches (1.50 k x 0.70 m)
Maximum height	51.2 inches (1.3 m)
Minimum tiptop	25.six inches (0.65 one thousand)
Weight capacity	286 pounds (129.seven kg)
Finish	White Black Wood

When moving the desk up and down, which is handled with a gesture sensor built into the bottom-right corner of the desk-bound, the motors fastened to the lesser of the desk are relatively quiet and very shine. Not having to crank the desk upwards and downwardly is very convenient, though the sensor isn't perfect (more on that below).

The desk-bound can agree upwardly to 286 pounds, which is a considerable corporeality of weight. I didn't test this claim, but having it loaded with a couple of thick reference books, a 27-inch all-in-i, a stack of laptops, and a bunch of other random gear didn't put information technology off balance or cause it to wobble. Information technology's available in two sizes if you need something larger than the 47-inch width option I take hither, simply I discover this size is about perfect for a home office.

Every bit for clutter beneath the desktop, there are clips congenital into the crossbar that easily hold the cables running from power-supply unit of measurement to the motors that raise and lower the desk. In that location doesn't seem to be a right way to arrange things — instructions were vague at best and I had to kind of guess how the thing went together — but I was able to go a clean await that doesn't accept cables draped downward touching my knees when sitting.

What you'll dislike well-nigh the 37 Caste Smart Home Magic Desk

While the desk and stand are both sturdy and seem to exist very well made, the additional stuff that makes the desk "magic" are generally contemporary and poorly made. The gesture sensor built into the desk notices if y'all hold your hand above or beneath it, and will heighten or lower the desk accordingly. This is crawly for the first hour, but if you're multitasking, your arm or anything else is going to brush over the sensor at some bespeak and your desk is going to start lowering itself. This happened so often that I eventually unplugged the desk-bound to disable the sensor, just plugging information technology back in to raise or lower. This kind of removes the convenience aspect, and it also removes the ability to employ the powered center console.

The gesture sensor is a great idea in theory, but you'll soon discover that your desk is moving up and down when you don't desire information technology to.

The display panel, which is expected to have a lot more features in the consumer version than the review sample version, connects magnetically to the desk via a small dock that'south located in the eye of the desk-bound. The console has a rechargeable bombardment inside so it doesn't always have to sit in the center of the desk, but the dock stays behind no matter what. If you programme on centering g a monitor on the desk, it'due south going to sit overtop of the dock (which does beetle a bit from the otherwise apartment surface).

The console I have here displays the fourth dimension and has a lite attached, and that'due south almost it. The light worked for almost five minutes before the power push button stopped working and the intensity dial kind of fell apart, and there's no style to alter the time displayed on the screen. There'southward also a USB-A port on the back of the console for charging, but it was clogged with glue and installed crooked so I could non test information technology out.

The last consumer version of the console will have a few more perks, including a work break reminder, automated calorie-free on and off when it senses you're about, a summit display for the desk, and actress upward and down buttons if the sensor craps out, but I wasn't able to test any of this stuff. The 1 I have here ended up on the floor behind the desk most immediately, and my monitor now sits atop the dock. Information technology'southward a shame the extra hardware isn't fabricated of the same quality as the base desk-bound and stand up, because the combination would be a existent winner.

Should you purchase the 37 Degree Smart Home Magic Desk?

Gesture sensor that detects your hand higher up and below the desk to raise or lower.

A Kickstarter entrada has been pushed dorsum a couple of times but is expected to get live closer to October 23. Those who desire to go the desk cheaper can take advantage hither, with a price of $399 rather than the total $699. This is a much more than realistic toll, and I think worth information technology for the stand and desktop solitary.

The Magic Desk has a sturdy base, serenity motors, and quality desktop, only the extra features included in the attachable panel really don't warrant the regular price. The gesture sensor built into the desk is convenient if yous're not often going back and forth betwixt tasks and tin can keep your arms ahead of yous, merely if y'all're like me — always shuffling things effectually and moving back and forth — the desk-bound is going to attempt lowering itself when yous inadvertently move something too shut to the sensor.

I didn't get to attempt out all the actress features that are advertised with the terminal version of the Magic Desk console and so I tin't say whether or not they work, but the one I have here is all-time ignored. If you desire to use the desk with a monitor centered on the desk, the dock is going to be covered anyway. Nosotros will update this article when the Kickstarter campaign is live.

37 Degree Smart Home Magic Desk-bound

From $399 at OGadget{.cta .shop}

A sturdy standing desk that tries to be also smart.

It'southward able to handle a lot of weight and the wood-stop desktop looks great, but paying more for the extra gimmicks that most of the time don't work doesn't make much sense.

Automatic standing desk